


Harry Potter and the Horcrux Within

by 0venm1tt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, no weasley bashing at all, so basically tonks is the same age as the weasley twins, tonks curses like a sailor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27737290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0venm1tt/pseuds/0venm1tt
Summary: Post OOtP AU. Harry balancing being a horcrux, Dumbledore's bullshit, the Ministry's bullshit, maintaining all of his friendships, the DA, and figuring out what he feels for Tonks. I swear there's a happy ending, though.
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass/Ron Weasley, Harry Potter/Nymphadora Tonks
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter allowed himself to sigh as he rose from bed at Number 4 Privet Drive. Hedwig was on her way in through the window, and a letter was clasped firmly in her beak. Gently patting her head, Harry opened up her cage and broke the envelope’s seal. Opening it revealed the messy scribble of a relatively new friend of his: Nymphadora Tonks. Sure, she was a full two years his senior, but as one of the first members of Dumbledore’s Army and one of his companions in the Department of Mysteries, it went without saying that the two of them had a strong bond.

_Wotcher,_

_Hopefully it’s your birthday by the time this reaches you, but no matter what, have a good one. I’ve finished moving into the new place, and I’m starting my apprenticeship in August. Can’t wait to learn from Mad-Eye, the genius he is (granted, I’ve heard he can be a real slave driver, so I might not be too fast with letters from here on out)._

_Anyway, I’ve got an idea, but it might not pan out. The new apartment has an extra room, so I figure you might be able to stay if you wanted? It’s a little cramped, but it’s probably a long sight better than your relatives if what Sirius told me is true. Just send the word, and I’ll be right over._

_Your mate,_

_Tonks_

_P.S: Damn good thing you managed to get the Patronus charm in before that bitch Umbridge caught us, the Auror office was very impressed._

That was definitely Tonks. Punctual, vulgar, and loyal (true to the Hufflepuff house). A pang of guilt reverberated through Harry’s chest when he read Sirius Black’s name. His godfather was dead, and it was undeniably his fault. But he could ignore that for now; the proposition of staying with Tonks over the Dursleys was fantastic. And, he remembered, she and Sirius were cousins. Surely, she’d be better suited to talk about his death than anyone else. And of course, it was his birthday. He’d forgotten until now, as it hardly seemed pressing compared to Lord Voldemort’s return, Sirius’s murder, and the prophecy. He got out a quill and parchment, and began writing.

_Tonks,_

_Thanks for the birthday wishes, and it’d be great to stay with you, I could really use a friend’s company. Congratulations on your apprenticeship, and good luck with Mad-Eye (not that you’ll need it)._

_Not exactly on topic, but do you think we could talk about Sirius? It’s been bothering me all summer, keeping it all inside. My cousin’s not exactly the open sort._

_See you soon,_

_Harry_

He gave Hedwig the note and said, “Can you take this to Tonks as quickly as possible? She’s invited us to stay with her.”

She gave an understanding blink and took off. Harry laid back on his bed, and rubbed his eyes before going back to sleep (there wasn’t much else to do nowadays). Around noon, he awoke again to the sound of Uncle Vernon’s shouting. Curiosity piqued, he put on shoes before slinking to the top of the stairs. Vernon’s considerable mass blocked any view of who might be standing in the doorway. However, it became apparent when he rumbled, “One of Harry’s friends? Sod off, then! The last time one of you lot came around, my son’s tongue grew two meters.”

“If you had only let me in, I’d already have been out of here with Harry.”

“Good to see you, Tonks.” Harry was grinning, for the first time since the Weasley twins escaped Hogwarts.

“Boy! Explain why this tramp has shown up at my doorstep!”

“I’ll be staying with her for a bit. And I’ll thank you to show a modicum of respect for my friends.”

“Respect? Let me tell you about respect! We’ve fed you, clothed you…” Harry turned back around and went to fetch his things. He’d heard the Dursley spiel more times than he could count, after all. Most of his belongings were still in a trunk, much to his embarrassment. When he went back down, Vernon was still roaring at him, but the man’s desire to be rid of Harry trumped his desire to keep him from his friends and he stood aside. Tonks wore casual Muggle clothes, her hair in her preferred style of short and bright pink (a la Day-Glo). Hedwig stood on her shoulder, lazily staring at Harry. “Great bird, Hedwig. Didn’t even mind Disapparating.”

“Yeah, she’s the best.”

“Shall we?” Tonks held out her arm, shit-eating grin plastered on her face.

“But of course,” Harry responded with a mock posh tone. He took Tonks’ arm, and within a moment, he felt as though he was being squeezed through a sink drain, only to materialize in a hallway a moment later, gasping for breath. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that. Never Apparated before?”

“Can’t say I have. Is it supposed to feel like being born?”

“You get used to it. Anyway, home sweet home.” She opened the door, and a chorus of voices called out, “Surprise!”

“Oh, fuckin’ hell, Tonks.” Harry couldn’t contain his laughter. Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood were all hugging him, and an older woman he didn’t recognize patted his shoulder. “Pleasure to meet you, Harry. I’m Andromeda, Nymphadora’s mother.”

“C’mon, Mum, just call me Tonks.”

Harry broke free. “Can’t believe you three made it out here.”

“Well, I can’t bloody well let my best mate go without a decent birthday, can I?” asked Ron. The two young men pulled each other into a one-armed hug, and Harry said, “Glad you could make it, buddy.”

The day’s festivities continued into the evening. Admittedly, it peaked slightly with a soulful, off-key rendition of “Louie Louie” performed by Ron and Tonks (at which point Luna practically fell out of her chair). Once the guests had cleared, though, Harry sat on the sofa and looked out the window. It was a small flat in downtown London, and there was a very… Tonks-y feel to it. Speaking of, she bounded over next to him and said, “Hope you don’t mind the space. It’s the best I can do.”

“It’s brilliant. Y’know, I slept in a cupboard for most of my life, so this is roomy by comparison.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Harry’s expression didn’t change. “Oh, bollocks, you’re not kidding.”

“No, the Dursleys only moved me to a room when they had no other choice.”

“Damn it, that’s just not… mate, I’ve got a few choice words for Dumbledore next time I see him.”

“He couldn’t have known.”

“But how long were you in there? A decade?” Harry nodded. “And he couldn’t be bothered to pop in and make sure you had a proper place to sleep?”

Harry didn’t know how to respond to that. Eventually, he murmured, “I don’t know what to think about Dumbledore anymore. A part of me wants to blame him for Sirius.”

“Because he could’ve helped you with Occlumency instead of outsourcing it to Greaseball?”

“Something like that, yeah. But it’s still on me at the end of the day.”

“Bullshit.”

“No, it’s not bullshit. I took you and Ron and Hermione and everyone else into a death trap over a hunch. Everyone warned me that Voldemort would get in my head and trick me, and I ended up almost getting everyone I care about killed. Sirius would still be with us if it wasn’t for me.”

“We could all go down that road, mate. You could also say that the whole Order is to blame, keeping a man like Sirius cooped up in a place he hated day in and day out. You could say that anyone in the room with the archway could have disarmed LeStrange or something. I’m not going there, though. As far as I’m concerned, Bellatrix LeStrange murdered my cousin, and that’s that.” Harry took a shaky breath. “You’re right. I… thanks, Tonks. I really needed to talk about this.”

“Anytime, Harry. Fuck, I just realized. Your hair’s longer than mine now, innit?”

Indeed, Harry’s hair now brushed his shoulders. “Yeah, haven’t gotten a haircut in some time.”

“Keep it this way. You look more rugged.”

“Please, Tonks.” He smirked. The summer was starting to look up after all. Tonks brought out a bottle of firewhiskey. “Isn’t it a bit reckless to show up to your first day working for Mad-Eye Moody hung over?”

She conjured two glasses, and poured the drinks with a wave of her wand. “Ah, cross that bridge later, y’know?”

Harry took a sip, and nearly vomited. Fire seemed too mild a descriptor for the burn in his throat. Chuckling, Tonks said, “Never had a proper drink before, Harry?”

“What gave it away?”

Tonks smiled and raised her glass. “Happy sixteenth, mate. To life.”

“To life.”


	2. Chapter 2

Living with Tonks proved to be much more enjoyable than living at the Dursleys’ (though this was hardly surprising to Harry). A bit of a routine was formed, in which Harry would study for the next school year and write to Ron and Hermione during the day while Tonks was at work. Once she came home, they would heartily chat about whatever came up for the rest of the day. They took care to enjoy London as well, from pubs to a few tourist traps (both wizarding and muggle). Hermione even came by one day in August, and the three of them went to check out Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley.

Bright colours met their eyes at once, and all sorts of bangs and pops sounded off in all directions. The trick sweets that landed Fred and George Weasley on Umbridge’s shit list coated the walls almost up to the ceiling, and the redheads were bustling around the shop. Tonks leaned over and whispered in Harry’s ear, “Distract them. I’ve had an idea.”

He nodded, and waved over the twins. “Blimey, Harry, how’s that hair hanging?” asked Fred.

“Down to my shoulders. Business is booming, I take it?”

“Certainly.” George nudged Harry’s arm, and added, “We had a very generous investor.”

“Hem, hem.” Fred and George swung around, and there stood Dolores Umbridge, in all her disgustingly saccharine, toadlike glory. She looked exactly as she did during her tenure at Hogwarts, until her features morphed back into the more pleasant face of Tonks. “Merlin’s beard,” the Weasleys said in unison, chortling at the antics of their Metamorphmagus friend.

“Tonks!” added Hermione, though she struggled to maintain indignance through her laughter.

“You scared the daylights out of me, mate,” said George.

“Glad it was bloody worth it, you have no idea how hard it is to make yourself shorter,” said Tonks as she stretched her back. Everyone laughed.

Later in the afternoon, Hermione and Tonks were discussing the finer points of Ministry operations concerning goblin rights over ice cream (courtesy of Fortescue). Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw one Draco Malfoy slip into Knockturn Alley with his mother in tow, and the both of them were looking over their shoulders in intervals. Shifting in his seat, he said, “Curious.”

“Beg your pardon?” asked Hermione.

“I saw Malfoy and his mum go back into Knockturn. Had a shifty look about ‘em.”

“Right, they’re the Malfoys.” said Tonks, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean, do they do anything that isn’t shifty?”

“Shiftier than usual. Like they didn’t want to be followed.”

“Harry, did it occur to you that they’ve been dealing with bad press recently?” chimed Hermione. “Maybe they’re just trying to avoid any paparazzi.”

“Do you trust them to not be up to something?”

“Not entirely, but we don’t have any proof.”

“Hm.” Harry finished his ice cream cone, making a note to keep a close eye on Malfoy at Hogwarts.

At nighttime, when they got back to Tonks’ flat after dropping Hermione off at home, both she and Harry immediately flopped onto the couch, exhausted after a long day. “Mate, I dunno about you, but I’m starting to get awfully suspicious about the Ministry,” Tonks said with a yawn.

“How’s that?”

“Well, think about it. They haven’t really tightened any kind of security outside of a mandated curfew. Mad-Eye keeps saying that he doesn’t trust the new minister, either. Oh, speaking of, we’ve got a meeting with the minister in a week.”

“What does he want with us?”

“It’s Sirius’ will.”

“Oh,” Harry said, simply. He didn’t know how to properly express the mixed feelings this brought. It would be productive to discuss it with Tonks, seeing as she was kind enough to offer him respite from the Dursleys and some much-needed perspective on Sirius’s death.

“Remember, Harry.” Tonks’s tone was neutral, and her eyes were half-lidded. “I’m an owl away if you ever need to talk about Sirius. Or anything, really.”

“Sounds brilliant, Tonks. Thank you.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. What are friends for?” She playfully slugged his arm.

* * *

A week later, Harry stood before Rufus Scrimgeour, who sat behind his cluttered desk with a stern, hardened look on his face. Tonks, her mother, and Remus Lupin accompanied the Chosen One, for they, too, were summoned. Scrimgeour cleared his throat, his long hair unmoving. “And now, we will begin the reading of the last will and testament of Sirius Black. First, to Andromeda Tonks, I leave ownership of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. You were always better than I was at charms, so I reckon you’ll be able to get that dreadful portrait off the wall. I also leave my thanks for rising above and being a better person than your sisters.” Andromeda nodded, dabbing her eye with a tissue.

“Second, to Remus John Lupin, I leave guardianship of my godson, Harry James Potter. You will certainly be a better parental figure than I ever was. Furthermore, I leave my sincerest apologies and remorse for having ever suspected you of betraying Lily and James.”

Harry excitedly turned around to face Lupin, who bore a small grin. “I hope he knew that I forgave him long ago,” he said wistfully.

“Third, to Nymphadora Tonks, I leave my old motorcycle, under the condition that you not wreck the thing. See to it that you receive my congratulations when you inevitably become an Auror.”

Tonks rolled her eyes. “You break the sidecar off one time…” Everybody except Scrimgeour laughed, and he continued, stern scowl still on his face.

“Finally, to Harry James Potter, I leave the contents of the Black family’s Gringotts account, as well as both sides of my two-way mirror. It is a shame that we could not have spent more time together, but I know we will see each other again someday. Remember to stay safe, and not to do anything that I would do. Especially regarding women.”

Again, the other three laughed. Scrimgeour continued. “That concludes the reading. You may leave at your earliest convenience.”

On the way out of the Ministry, Tonks and Lupin each clapped a hand on one of Harry’s shoulders. Lupin spoke first. “Well, Harry, I’ll first have to get a proper place to live, but once that’s taken care of, it looks like we’ll be living together.”

“So I’ll never have to go back to the Dursleys?”

“Not if I can help it.” Lupin was smiling now, as were Harry and Tonks. “I’ll be on my way, now. I have to see Severus about the… you know, the potion.” He winked, and then Disapparated.

Tonks took Harry back to her flat. Harry was getting used to the feeling of Apparation, to the extent where it hardly bothered him any longer. “How’re you holding up, mate?” she asked once they were inside.

“I dunno. It’s nice to be able to live with Lupin, but…” Tonks cocked her head to one side, her grey eyes displaying no judgment.

“It’s like another reminder that he’s really gone, right?”

“Yeah, exactly. How did you…”

“I’ve been feeling the same way, in all honesty.” As she spoke, her hair turned from bubblegum pink to a deep violet. “I mean, I’ve still got Mum and Dad, but I don’t have much other family left. At least, none that aren’t Death Eaters.”

“I get that. I mean, the Dursleys aren’t exactly Death Eaters, but they’re still far from pleasant.”

“Yeah, you do get it. Why the fuck didn’t I think to talk to you about it?”

“I dunno, Tonks. But, as you said, I’m an owl away if you need to talk.”

“Good man, Harry. You’re going to make some girl very happy, you know that?”

“Er, what?”

Tonks laughed heartily. “Ah, bugger, I left some paperwork at the office. Be back in a jiff.” Before Harry could respond, she Disapparated. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and set about some Transfiguration homework.

“Damn it,” he muttered. How could one person be so easy to talk to and simultaneously so difficult to understand?


End file.
